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Loving One Another in Deed—A Commentary on 1 John 3:18

My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

1 John 3:18

Thoughts on Today’s Verse…

From this verse, we can see that the Lord wants us to help other people in actions rather than in words. Only this is truly loving one another. I remember a biblical story: “And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said to him, What is written in the law? how read you? And he answering said, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself. And he said to him, You have answered right: this do, and you shall live. But he, willing to justify himself, said to Jesus, And who is my neighbor? And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said to him, Take care of him; and whatever you spend more, when I come again, I will repay you. Which now of these three, think you, was neighbor to him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that showed mercy on him. Then said Jesus to him, Go, and do you likewise” (Luke 10:25–37).

From this story, we can see that the Samaritan man loved the trapped man in actions. Only this kind of love is real, and not fake, and can receive God’s approval. Whereas the priest and the Levite who both served Jehovah God—especially the priest who preached and instructed people in the temple—walked away when they encountered the trapped man. It can be seen that this kind of people are just saying empty slogans, and that their love are just skin-deep. They are hypocrites who God detests.

Clearly, truly loving brothers and sisters is not done with spoken words, but done in deed and in truth. For example, some brothers and sisters are comparatively well off, but when they notice that some brothers and sisters live in poverty, they do nothing but pray for them and ask the Lord to bless and help them. On the surface it seems that they have a loving heart. Actually their love is just skin-deep. They only feed and clothe themselves but never help poor brothers and sisters with money God bestows upon them. Regardless of how poor those brothers and sisters are, they pretend not to see the facts. This kind of people don’t have even a bit of love for God. They don’t love their brothers or sisters. How can they possibly love God? Even more, they won’t expend for and devote their lives to God. Those who truly love God can dedicate themselves to God, and treat brothers and sisters with love. When they notice that some brothers and sisters are in difficulty, they will surely help them. In fact, loving one another is a good deed that we are supposed to prepare during our course of believing in God, for these good deeds are the testimony to our true faith in God as well as the testimony to our true repentance. If we believe in God without good deeds, how can we say we truly believe in Him? How can such people who only pay lip service to belief in God receive God’s approval?

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